Tris writes:
<< Tests are one thing, work out in the field another. >>
I'm not doing tests anymore. I'm back in the field shooting - a lot.
I'm diversifying my portfolio now that I'll be teaching photography on
the college level. The whole test process helped me cull my working
bag(s) of lenses and know their limitations.
<< When I go to shoot I think a whole lot more about the film I'm taking
vis-a-vis the light I expect to have and whether my subject will be
moving or still than I do about my lenses at all, and peripheral field
of view is something I've never given a serious thought for quarter of a
century. >>
Corner focus ability is important day in and day out. How many times
when in right brain mode do we get a shot framed and set up on a tripod
and forget to have checked the depth of field? It is way easier to
determine the close focus distance (often an object in a corner, in my
compositions) by not moving the camera. There are too many Zuikos in
which the corner image in the viewfinder, on at least a 1 series screen,
is mush. Mush = anytime you have to hunt for correct focus.
The characteristics I included in my tests concern me as a
photographer. "Vignetting" has an impact on metering accuracy and light
fall off in shots including the sky. Distortion is of the utmost
importance in anything we shoot with recognizable straight lines -
including trees! SQF grades help identify those Zuikos which will be
easiest to focus.
In case anyone wonders, I don't carry the SQF results with me on shoots.
I rarely get good shots if I stay left brain dominant during a shoot.
Which is why it's important for me to carry lenses I can trust. Which
are presently: 16, 18, 21/3.5, 24/2.8, 28/2, 35/2, 35-70/3.5~4.5 or
/3.6, 50/1.4, 80-200/2.8 Tamron SP, 90f/2, 135/4.5, 200/4, 300/4.5,
400/5.6 Noflexar, 600/6.5, 1.4x. Truth is that if I had that lens
versatility in medium format, I'd primary shoot MF.
Gary Reese
Las Vegas, NV
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